When I was in cross country in high school, I was always amazed that my coach was a non-competitive runner. He just liked running just to run.
Today, I feel like I'm that way, but with a twist. I've taken that experience and made it my own. But I think I'm smart enough to not take on those who are faster than me while severely making things difficult for those who aren't faster than me but want to test me anyway.
It's the running that makes you wise, doesn't it?
Fast is nice, but if you want fast, buy a nice car -- and deal with the speeding tickets. With everything, there's a nice zone where you'll keep up your enjoyment and it won't bother anyone.
Every now and then, I'll look at this blog, or even my results on Athlinks. What does it all mean? Should I be faster? Should I be slower?
In the end, I focus on the slow times and think of how hard it was for me to come back into running, into races. I'd accepted the really slow times as a factor of age and figured, so be it.
I never could have guessed there'd be personal bests down the road, or my consecutive day streak.
But what I remember from those days is how much I enjoyed being out there, how much I enjoyed just being able to do a 5K, a 10K, even if slowly.
That enjoyment is the sweet spot of things, whether you're a turtle or cranking out PR's left and right.
But you don't want to forget the enjoyment, and the satisfaction of things. Because when you look back, all you'll see are numbers.
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Today's run was my basic butterfly loop, a 4 mile course in the neighborhood. It was laborious, as it usually is the day after I'm on a plane flight, or sitting in a car driving from Richmond, Va., to Atlanta.
With the run, I crossed 400 miles on my current pair of shoes. The cool air prompted me to make a Runner's World recipe -- red lentil and black bean soup.
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Temp: 50 degrees
Gear: T-shirt, short (Beat the Street for Little Feet 5K), shorts, Nike Air Pegasus+ 27/A.
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